Clinical–alimentary tractAge-Specific Incidence of Helicobacter pylori
Section snippets
Methods
Three hundred twenty-seven healthy index children between 24 and 48 months of age were enrolled. Index children were enrolled over a 15-month period (October 1997 to December 1998). At baseline, the H pylori infection status of each index child was assessed by using the 13C-UBT. All noninfected index children were then followed up with annual 13C-UBT for 4 years to determine whether they became infected with H pylori and, if so, the age at first infection. Information on potential risk factors
Results
Three hundred twenty-seven index children were enrolled in the study from 15 family practices. Seventy-five percent of children resided in the greater Dublin city area, and the remainder lived in 2 rural towns (Mallow, Co Cork, and Kingscourt, Co Cavan, Ireland).
After baseline assessment, 37 (11.3%) noninfected index children were lost to follow-up over the subsequent 4 years (Figure 1). Twenty of these 37 were lost between baseline and the date they were due to have their first annual
Discussion
This is the first prospective study to examine the age-specific incidence of H pylori in children. This study was specifically designed to examine the incidence of H pylori in children >24 months of age by using a valid diagnostic test with strict a priori criteria for the classification of H pylori infection status. Information on risk factors was collected when or before infection occurred. The results show that children in a developed country who become infected with H pylori are infected at
Conclusion
This is the first prospective study on the incidence of H pylori infection. This study shows that most young children with H pylori are infected before the age of 3 years and that the risk of infection is very low after 5 years of age. Having an infected mother, an infected older sibling, or not being weaned from a bottle by 2 years of age are all independent and statistically significant risk factors for infection. This finding that children become infected at a very young age has important
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2021, Meta GeneCitation Excerpt :Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a gram-negative, microaerophilic, helical, and motile (polar flagella) bacterium found in the subcutaneous layer of the gastrointestinal tract of 4.4 billion people worldwide (Yamaoka and Graham, 2014). Colonization with this bacterium is directly related to socioeconomic status and health conditions, so that the rate of infection with this bacterium varies from 70 to 90% in developing countries to 25–50% in developed countries (Rowland et al., 2006). However, although the rate of H. pylori infection is high, the initial infection only in 15–20% of people progresses to severe gastrointestinal disorders such as chronic gastritis (Akdogan et al., 2014), peptic ulcer diseases (PUDs) (Huang et al., 2002), gastric cancer (GC) (Huang et al., 1998), and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma (Youssefi et al., 2020).
This study was funded by a Wellcome Trust Project grant (051393/Z/97/Z).